Kirin Buffet & Grill

Excellent service. Great choice of food. Quality is good, not excellent. What you would expect from a buffet. They have great sushi and also teppenyaki. You will love the variety and price for lunch.

I’m also very confused by this place has just low ratings. I’ve held 2 company dinners here for 130 people and everyone loves this place. There is definitely a wide range of dishes to choose from such as crab legs, oysters, sushi, ramen, fruits and much more. My favorite was the spicy scallop sushi and the custard eggs.
This is the perfect place for big groups! I would definitely hold future company dinners at Kirin!

How should I start my review.
Oh maybe from how they got their only star.
This place definitely deserves a visit if you want to get an experience of just paying $ 21.99 and ended up laughing 90% of the time as there’s really so much fun eating at this place and every single food item there do look like a quest waiting for you.
So this place has a lot of sushi/​sashimi on display, and throughout the night I didn’t see a single person eating them get the salmon was grey and the tuna had an artificial red color.
I am not really a buffet person but usually whenever I go to a buffet place I would try to find a dish that I like and I will fill myself up with that.
The place was half empty on a Friday night and throughout the night they didn’t bring out any new food, it was basically the same food and they didn’t bring anything new out.
So the dish that filled me up? It was the green tea kochi ice cream and I literally had 10 of those and filled myself up. Don’t bother with all the other dishes. And I did make a smart choice. Everyone else from my table ended up staying in the restroom for the whole night after eating and nothing happened to me. I guess I won the Kirin Quest and I have successfully beat the game.

Don’t know if it’s me but every time I come here, I always end up visiting my toilet 3−5x in less than a day after eating. It definitely must be the raw oysters. In addition to that, some of the food is cold which is not good for health reasons! I’ve had better raw oyster experiences at Vegas Buffet or Kome Buffet, and nothing happens to me when I eat at those places.
Only good thing I dig from this place are their desserts. And their beef steak/​chicken wings. Service is good and attentive. They mostly speak mandarin. Located inside Arcadia Mall by Macy’s, first floor. Eat at your own risk.

This is good for family gatherings. Seating was comfortable. $ 20 per head for an all-​you-​can-​eat buffet was not too bad. They had a large variety of food selection, although food quality was just so-​so. My favorite was the herb turtle soup!

The oysters had not been cleaned. Disgusting green furry outside. My friend got mild food poisoning but who knows from what. I ate the raw oysters, he had the baked oysters… wierd but hes never had food poisoning in his life and has one of the heartiest stomachs out of anyone i know.
Some of the food was really good and a great variety… however, after eating the oyster and flipping it over to see the lack of cleaning, i was absolutely shocked and almost puked. It looked like a sea barnacle that had bee. stuck to a pirate ship for 5 years.

The Good:
— Kirin is catered towards Asians. The buffet replaced the old Todai location and features a wide breadth of fried, greasy, Asian inspired dishes left to sit under heatlamps.
— There is also a ‘rawbar’ with sushi, oysters, shrimp, etc.
— There is a Mongolian BBQ station but the sanitation and choices of toppings deterred me from trying.
— They had a decent selection of cooked seafoods, all which were overseasoned.
— I’d say the best thing here was the hot and sour soup or the fried rice.
The Not So Good:
— Service was a joke. The waiters were so busy tripping over each other and patrons, and there were always piles and piles or dishes racking up at each table. I know buffets typically aren’t known for great hospitality, but you have to draw the line somewhere.
— They had sushi, but the quality was lackluster. Typical for what you would find at an Asian buffet.
— Everything was incredibly overseasoned.
Bottom Line:
I’m a firm believer in quality over quantity when forced to choose. However, you may be of a different school of thought. I’d rather use the same money and get a nice lunch or dinner somewhere else. Heck, in the SGV 626 there are plenty of amazing options that boast just as good of value.

Saturday afternoon buffet $ 21.95.
Pro– clean place with plenty of room. Seafood selection is nice which includes snow crab legs, cold and warm. My favorites are basil clams, spicy pepper oil fish, and salt & pepper shrimp. Service is quick and attentive. It’s right in the mall!
Con– oysters aren’t fresh and not much red meat selection.

My complaint is more about their host and the wait and not too much of the food.
My husband as well as my family have been coming here for years and this was probably the worst time that we have been here. For starters when you tell someone that the wait is between 30 – 45 min then stick to it. We weren’ t seated for over 90 and we even told then we had my 6mo niece with us. My mom even requested to speak to a manager since we saw 4 families go in ahead of us. Then to make things worse they stated that we should be separated. Luckily the table next to us became vacant so we were able to sit together after all. This was just horrible hosting. We even had to ask multiple time for almost everything.
The only reason for the star is the food. The food still hit or miss there. I’ll probably still go there if there isnt at a wait. Maybe.

We went to have a Christmas Eve diner,
After diner with in 30 half hour I got foods poison!
My whole Christmas Eve ended sat next to my toilet seat!

The worst buffet place I ever been to in my life!!! Absolutely no service no hospitality no manner no nothing!!! Order our drinks but never came until ducking 30 minutes later!!! Wtf, and finally one guy finally came and gave us drink and took another 30 minutes of effort before they came again to refill our drink!!! take my warning, avoid this place at all cause!!! Or else you will regret for the whole night, mood all ruined… and most importantly a big fucking waste of money when I can make use of it else where !!! I mean wtf… just speechless… is that how you would treat your customers!!! Like even they made eye contacts with you when you need service but they just walked away like whatever and acted like they don’t give a shit… if I have to write a freakkng research paper on how badly they treat their customers, I would do it!!! Srsly …

We used this place last minute for an event we had (catering for VIP lounge). The event was in the mall, so it was convenient. In regards to catering, they have a lot of options (unfortunately, no catering menu, but they can do whatever you ask). Ricky, the owner, was very accommodating for our last minute needs. He showed up and delivered what we needed and worked within our budget. The food went over very well and the set up was nice!
In regards to their buffet, this place gets PACKED! I met with Ricky at 11am (the restaurant opens at 11:30am) and people were already lining up! Once the doors opened, it was full of people. Their prices for unlimited food are great. Lunch is around $ 19.95 and dinner is $ 21.95 I believe. They have a variety of sushi, dim sum, seafood, traditional and ‘American-​ized’ Chinese entrees. They also have a very full dessert station with jello, mochi, macaroons and cakes. I sampled a few items when we were deciding on what to order for the catering and everything was pretty good. Their dim sum items were great!
I’m definitely interested in coming back here as a regular customer to get the full effect. My review is mostly based on their catering and service!

Kirin is not Todai. Don’t come here expecting Todai, just because it took its place.
Shifting the focus away from sashimi and rolls, Kirin has a greater focus on home cooked tasting Asian Cuisine, with a higher emphasis on higher class Chinese cuisine than Japanese cuisine.
One of the most popular items are the warm crab. They are good, but they go fast, because the patrons like to hawk the station and grab 15 legs each. I managed to get one. Even my husband who doesn’t really like crazy and admitted it was well cooked.
In the evenings they give either abalone or uni. The abalone we got was tasty with good texture.
The sushi station is sad and nothing to write home about. It’s a bit better than most Chinese style buffets.
Some of the hot dishes are really good. I got some lamb and radish soup. All the lamb was gone, but the broth was really clean and delicious.
They have popular items like HK bubble waffle and takoyaki as well. They were okay.
The dessert bar was the best I’ve seen at an under $ 30 buffet. They have tasty dessert items that are cute, and feature traditional Asian flavors like Durian mochi, green tea Hello Kitty chocolate, mango pudding, green tea softserve, green tea mochi ice cream, Asian style gelatin in pretty flower molds, and more. I also grabbed a cotton candy to eat while strolling the mall.
I love

Three stars is quite generous, if you ask me. Not that it was a choice of mine to come in and dine here, espcially an Asian buffet. But we had some aunties visiting from another country, so we wanted to give them the options.
You walk through and look at all your choices and think, «wow, so many to chose from.» You take a little here and there to try it out. After you take a bite, it just wasn’t that great as it looked. As we all say, «quality over quantity.» I think there was only two items I really enjoyed, the butterfly cut shrimp with some type of mayo topping, and the crème brulet.
Service was bare minimal. Had to ask for things a few times to get it. But they do come by more frequent to clear the plates. Definitely see the launguage barrier with the staff. This just wasn’t for me.

Another typical Chinese Buffet. They took over what use to be Todai. Located inside Westfield Santa Anita Mall near Macy’s. Upon entering the restaurant, we were greeted by the host. Sat us down & asked what we would like to drink. Once that is done, it’s time to go grab food!
Lots to choose from. Fruits, desserts, FROYO, salads, Hot foods, cold foods, sushi & rolls, soups, & Habachi. Choices were fried rice, stir fried noodles, clams, shrimps, vegetable dishes, dim sum items, made to order HK waffles. Soup station has the usual Hot & Sour, egg drop flower, & a «like» Ciopino soup.
The flavors on the prepared hot dishes were ok. Not overly salty. Again, pretty typical. Over the Habachi side, you can personalize your dish. Choose your meats (chicken, pork, or beef) vegetables & sauce. Desserts were your usual cakes, Chinese hot dessert soups, cream puffs, cookies, chocolate fountain, & egg tarts. Not bad for the money.

So I read the reviews and I was like «great, another crappy, wannabe Vegas buffet.» DUDE, THIS PLACE IS AMAZING!
Weekend Dinner ($ 21.95)
Kirin has more Asian dishes than anything else. Roasted duck, Mongolian BBQ, short ribs, uni, and much more. You get the quality of a Vegas buffet, but you’re only paying around $ 25 WITH tax and tip.
So after you’re full of their variety of dishes, now you HAVE to make your way to the dessert. They have Mochi ice cream!

I came here for lunch today and I did not have a bad experience. Lunch was $ 13 which isn’t bad. They had tons of variety from sushi to seafood to dim sum to fruits and vegetables and dessert.
Perks:
–Cheap
–Dim sum wasn’t horrible
–GREEN TEA CHEESECAKE!
–Chocolate fountain :)
Nah:
–Sushi; rice was hard & the it taste like the seafood has been sitting there for days
–Meats were cold
–Plates were dirty
–Service was ehhh
Overall, I might come back. Maybe for the cheesecake.

Not great, not bad.
For $ 12.95 at lunch, I’m not really complaining. What’s more, we found a 15% discount online so even better. It’s your typical Asian buffet, similar to Zen Buffet. It has your rolls, nigiri, and copious amounts of fried goodies. The nigiri they serve is not bad; it isn’t composed of 75% rice/​25% fish like many Asian buffets out there. There is a teppanyaki grill area in the back where you pick your noodles, veggies, and meat (salmon or pork when I was there) and give it to the dude working the grill.
Look past the 2.5 star rating, lunch price is ok, wouldn’t know how dinner is. And look for that discount online.

I don’t know why everyone gives it such low reviews. Every time I come here, I load up on sashimi and come out nice and happy and full. There are a ton of desserts and fresh seasonal fruit… and for such an affordable price, what more can you ask for?
The cons are pretty much the dinner Uni/​abalone are really not that great, and a lot of their chinese items are greasy (cooked salmon drowning in oil/​butter), but really… a lot of their items are good too! Such as the sashimi and seafood… seriously, that in itself is worth it. A ton of people also love their chicken wings, though I’m personally just not a fan of wings in general.
Try it without «Vegas» grade expectations and you will be pleasantly surprised! Or like I said, be like me and just eat your moneys worth in seafood and dessert.

I’ve been to Kirin twice now, and both times I left feeling pretty satisfied with my visit. The food is primarily catered to Asians, as there are lots of dishes that you can find at a Chinese restaurant. But I feel Kirin tries to expand their dishes to have that Western flair, but in the end it pretty much fails and ends up being Western dishes with a Chinese touch. However, most of the things that I have tried are pretty good!
A few of my favorites:
–Teppanyaki styled grill where you gather. ingredients and the amount of noodles you want, and the chef cooks it on the grill for you (similar to Great Khan’s). I tried the steak and the salmon from the grill station and both were really good after the chef cooked them for me. I personally really liked the flavor of the noodles and the other ingredients!
–Udon/​ramen that the chefs make and put in special bowls. They taste really good, especially the udon noodles.
–Honey glazed shrimp; not as good as Tasty Garden, but the sauce and flavor were good and the shrimp had a nice crunch to it.
–Prime rib wasn’t too bad. A little dry.
–Chicken wings were good! They grill them next to the teppanyaki station. Lots of flavor!
–Asian vegetables
–Egg tarts
–Crème brulee
–Japanese seaweed
–Turtle soup (or some Asian delicacy which doesn’t really use that particular animal … but it tasted good!)
–Fruits
Stay away from:
–Sushi (not too fresh)
–Oysters did not taste good.
–Crab legs. meh
–The little cakes and pastries weren’t too tasty.
The prices are a little costly, so I personally wouldn’t come to eat for dinner on the weekends or holidays. They can fit a lot of people into the restaurant, and they do get pretty busy on holidays and weekends. Overall, a pretty decent buffet if you’re coming to catch up with family or have a big party.